Has Senator Cruz been Misinformed About Western Sahara or What? |
CounterPunch Exclusives
CounterPunch Exclusives
Has Senator Cruz been Misinformed About Western Sahara or What?
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has announced that he, along with Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Rick Scott R-FL), have introduced a bill targeting what they call the “Iranian Regime’s Polisario Front,” designating that popular North African nationalist movement as a “terrorist organization.” Those of us knowledgeable of the Middle East and North Africa have been scratching our heads trying to figure out about what they could be referring to.
Since the early 1970s, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (Frente Polisario) has been leading a fight first, initially for independence from Spain and, after subsequently for freedom from Morocco’s efforts to forcibly annex the territory. The Polisario is a moderate secular movement whose leadership is democratically elected by refugees, consisting of nearly half of the nation’s population, residing in camps in neighboring Algeria
In the 50 years of resistance against Moroccan occupation forces, the Polisario has never engaged in any acts of terrorism. Not once. Indeed, they have formally ratified the Geneva Conventions and their protocols and they are a party to the African Union’s........